While the printing of various inks and paints is a well known process, the printing of color palettes with scents by traditional techniques to form an inexpensive, easily manufactured intermediate product for painting subsequent designs is not currently known in the art. Current palette production methods are generally effective for producing multiple use palettes. However, these palettes usually have a relatively high cost due to the amount of ink or paint provided and are not subject to inexpensive production. For example, traditional methods for producing palettes require special substrates which form cups to hold the liquid ink or paint once it is initially deposited and the amount of ink or paint in the palette increases the cost so that it is relatively expensive if used only once. Furthermore, such economic considerations limit the number of colors provided on a typical palette, since it would not be cost effective to provide colors which would receive little use. Furthermore, there is currently no product in existence which provides palettes containing inks having microencapsulated fragrances.
The common "scratch and sniff" technique has been utilized to combine fragrance effects with printed material. For example, microencapsulated fragrances have been used to create "scratch and sniff" books, stickers, or advertisements. A viewer of the material would scratch the printed areas resulting in a rupture of microcapsules such that the fragrance would be released and smelled. U.S. Pat. No. 3,578,482, to Whitaker et al., discloses a slurry for forming such effects.
Such techniques have gained wide popularity in advertising due to the fact that the visual impact of the advertisement is enhanced by the addition of the fragrance. The "scratch and sniff" technique has been used to enhance children's books in a similar manner. The impact of the combination of multiple sensory effects (i.e., sight and scent or flavor) provides for an enhanced memory of the material, a great plus both in advertising and education.
Despite the use of microencapsulated fragrances or flavors in advertising and printed materials, there is no "scratch and sniff" paint palette available to consumers so that they may paint their own "scratch and sniff" artwork. The prior art in microencapsulated fragrances and printing materials relates exclusively to the printing of a material such that the next step in the use of the material is the rupture of the microcapsules and release of the chemical. None of these prior art formulations provide a paint or ink slurry containing microcapsules which may be initially printed, but then subsequently transferred as the user desires. For example, even though the slurry disclosed in Whitaker is a water based slurry, the teaching does not disclose a transferable product. As is well known in the printing art, typical printed layers of ink bond to the fibers of the paper and are in fact held on the paper by such bonds. Thus, even in water soluble inks, a mere re-wetting of the printed ink will not allow for the transfer of ink in sufficient quantities to paint another product. In fact, the prior art is primarily concerned with the ink not being transferable after printing since prior art techniques have focused on the durability of the printed matter. To accomplish this goal, a binder was used which is initially hot water soluble but is insoluble once printed and dry. Examples of such prior art binders are polyvinyl alcohol, starches and polymer emulsions.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for efficiently and inexpensively producing color palettes.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide color palettes using traditional printing techniques to reduce costs and increase production capacity.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a water color paint palette containing microencapsulated chemicals which may be printed in layers of sufficient thickness such that the paints and microcapsules may be subsequently transferred by a consumer.